Laid to Rest
by shadriver
Summary: You know, Skaia is definitely not on the list of the top ten places you want to be right now. After all, it was only a couple hours ago (hours, you repeated. Only hours) that you were met with your own death; as well as the death of… several others. Jack Noir is a real jerk. But you know as much as anyone that the dead need to be put to rest.


You know, Skaia is definitely not on the list of the top ten places you want to be right now. After all, it was only a couple hours ago (_hours_, you repeat. _Only hours_) that you were met with your own death; as well as the death of several others. Jack Noir is a real jerk. Regardless, you have a job to do here, a job that only you and one other person, though you suppose that the Sprites could help, could do.

The dead needed to be laid to rest; buried. You kick over a rock, mumbling to yourself about things you aren't even sure of. You haven't been sure about yourself for a long while now. Long while; god, it's only been one day!

"John! There you are! I thought I could hear you mumbling." Pulling you from your thoughts, your ecto-sister, that was going to take some getting used to, runs over to you; her doggie ears stood up, that was also going to take some getting used to if you're being completely honest.

"Oh. Hey Jade. Sorry about wandering off." You pull down your God Hood, normally the mere thought of the terrible pun would send you into a fit of giggles but you just weren't feeling it today, to show off a smile. It seems to be enough to convince the Witch of Space.

"It's okay, just remember, I'm the only one who can get you off the planet! Next time, I might just leave you for a couple days." She finishes with a wink. That was enough to get a genuine smile from you. She holds her hands out to you, holding some miniature digging tools, sometimes you think she's a little too enthusiastic about using her abilities. "Anyways, I alchemized some shovels." She cups her hands together before moving them away; a faint green light expands around the small shovels as they grow to normal size. You grab one of the shovels.

"Ah, nice!" You make a couple mock digging poses with the tool, getting a feel for it. "I was starting to think that we'd have to use our hands." Jade nervously giggles. Jeez, tough crowd, though the thought of digging graves with your hands is kind of sickening so you'll excuse her just this once.

"So where do we start? I was thinking we could split up, cover more ground."

"So you found me just to split back up?" You raise an eyebrow as Jade blushes with embarrassment for a moment.

"Well, yeah! I mean, you needed a shovel!" True. You respond with a shrug.

"Alright then, I'll yell when I'm ready to go." She nods as you lift yourself into the air with The Windy Thing, god this was such a useful ability. You use it almost as much as Jade uses her Space powers. Almost. Anyways, you have a destination in mind before you even take off. When you and Jade first decided to clean up the Battlefield, it was the first place to pop into your head. You mentally debated leaving this place last for obvious reasons but eventually the logical, or illogical depending on how you look at it, part of your brain decided that you should just get it out of the way first.

Your flight takes only a minute or so, the castle wasn't that far away to begin with. You take a deep breath, though you maybe take a bit too much of a breath and when you exhale, you blow the door off its hinges. You freak out a little and run over to it but upon remembering that no one would be living in this building for a long, long time, if ever, you get over it. You float across the floor, glancing at the bodies of the dead chess people(?).

Wow, you cannot remember what to call them and that is actually making you sad. Well, even sadder. You promise their corpses that you'd be back in a moment and sped off, traveling higher and higher before you find it; the staircase that leads to a balcony. Fuck, the scene hasn't changed at all, you think as you take in your surroundings. Actually, maybe there's more blood then you remember; you can't be sure. You didn't stick around too long. There's Dad, and Rose's mom. Their bodies haven't been moved, naturally, who would even be around to move them.

Their blood has long since dried and you aren't sure whether or not you'll ever try and clean it. There's another dried puddle near them and you can only assume that it belongs to you. You find yourself putting your hand over the spot where Jack Noir's blade ran through you. Of course, due to your recent ascension to Godhood, there isn't a single physical trace that such a wound had ever been there. You sigh. Lastly, but certainly not least, there's Rose. Well, old Rose, you guess? You aren't sure how the whole revival as a Dream Self thing works and you honestly don't care enough to ask anyone for details. She still had her Grimdark appearance, which is honestly a little creepy; like, more so than normal Rose, no offense to her.

Still, just seeing her so lifeless and dead, it was hard. You wonder how Jade managed seeing Dave. Actually, no, no you didn't. Too late. Why did you even think of that, goddamnit. You look off of the balcony to get your mind off of it. The scenery was well, okay, you won't lie and say it's pleasant. It looks like it could've been, once upon a time, but the land has been destroyed pretty badly. Either from Jack Noir's initial rampage or your drilling to find the Tumor. You actually feel a little guilt at being partially responsible for the destruction that now paints this world.

Fuck. You once again command The Windy Thing, using it to pick up the three bodies that sat on the balcony. It's a short trip to the ground, mostly because you choke up when you pass another glance at your dad. He's the first to fall from your grip. In a panic, you try to catch him but that results in another body falling, this time it was Mom Lalonde. You play the game of try and catch the bodies but eventually, you realize that you're crying and you can't even see them clearly anymore. And so they drop. And so do you.

"FUCK!" You scream as you fall to your knees. You don't care about the tears anymore, you just let them flow. How did things turn out like this? You know exactly how but acting like you don't makes you feel a little bit better somehow. Fine, whatever, they're down. You tighten your grip on your shovel and start to dig. You dig for a good minute or so before a burst of green energy catches your attention.

"That was really fa-... John?" You look up at her and even with your glasses, she's blurry. Tears tend to do that. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Jade. Fucking peachy! Just burying my dad like any other kid, you know?" You stick your shovel into the ground, leaning on it. "No wait, I forgot, you stuffed your grandpa, right? That's close enough, I guess. How do you do it, Jade? How do you become so badass? No, really, I need to know because I can't take this, okay?" You would've probably kept up your little rant had Jade not run up to you and enclosed you in a hug.

"John, no need to be a fuckass." She rubs your back and you can feel tears coming even stronger than before. You wrap your arms around her ecto-sister and bury your head into her chest because she's still taller than you, though you refuse to admit it. You cry and you cry and you cry and just when you think your tear ducks are empty, you cry again. Truly you are the manliest man. It is you.

"Thanks Jade" You say once you're sure you (can't) won't shed anymore tears. "I needed that."

"No problem, John!" She smiles and you smile back. Sometimes you have to remember that you're not alone; that you don't have to shoulder every problem on your shoulders. "Just... tell me next time, okay?" You nod. "You promise?"

"I promise."

"Great! Now..." She looks at your not even partially done hole then at the bodies that surround it. "Do you want some help?"

"Yeah, I think," you look around yourself. Why did you ever think you could do this alone? Why did you think you had to? Whatever, that time has passed. Though another thought suddenly crossed your mind. "Hey Jade?"

"Yeah, John?"

"Why don't I just use The Windy Thing to drill a couple holes into the ground?" Your question was met with silence. Really, with as much as you two loved doing mundane things with your newfound powers, it was a shock that you hadn t done this from the start.


End file.
